An Economy to Serve People
The party states, as part of its ten key values, that:
– the accumulation of individual wealth in the U.S. has reached grossly unbalanced proportions. It is clear that we cannot rely on the rich to regulate their profit-making excesses for the good of society through “trickle-down economics.” We must take aggressive steps to restore a fair distribution of income
– it supports redesigning the nation’s work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy
– it supports development of new economic activities and institutions that allow the nation to use technology in ways that are humane, freeing, ecological, and responsive and accountable to communities
– it supports establishment of a form of basic economic security open to all
– it calls for moving beyond the narrow ‘job ethic’ to new definitions of ‘work,’ ‘jobs’ and ‘income’ in a cooperative and democratic economy
– it supports restructuring national patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy – those who take responsibility for parenting, housekeeping, home gardens, community volunteer work, and the like
– it supports restricting the size and concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation
– all social actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals, seeking to protect valuable natural resources and safely disposing of or ‘unmaking’ all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival
– our economy must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions
– the quality of all lives, rather than open-ended economic growth, should be the focus of future thinking and policy
Measuring Economic Health
The party states that:
– economic growth remains a primary goal of U.S. policy, with corporations and others advocating a theory of unlimited economic growth through technological progress
– the physical and biological sciences, however, suggest that there is a limit to economic growth
– there is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and ecological health (for example, biodiversity conservation, clean air and water, atmospheric stability)
– we cannot rely on technological progress to solve ecological and long-term economic problems
The party advocates:
– promoting lifestyle choices that reinforce a general equilibrium of humans with nature, including conscious choices to foster environmentally sound technologies, whether new or old, and to discourage conspicuous consumption and waste
– pursuit of a steady-state economy, including a stable or mildly fluctuating product of population and per capita consumption and GDP
– an alternative way to measure the economy is to assess the value of non-monetary goods and services and measure the rate of infant mortality, life expectancy of people, educational opportunities offered by the state, family stability, environmental data, and health care for all people
– another measure includes quantifying human benefit (in terms of education, health care, elder care, etc.) provided by each unit of output. Measuring the gap between the most fortunate and the least fortunate in our society, for example, tells us how well or poorly we are doing in creating an economy that does not benefit some at the expense of others
– for nations with widespread poverty, increasing per capita consumption (through economic growth or through more equitable distributions of wealth)
– acknowledgment that ultimately the global ecosystem will not be able to support further economic growth
– an equitable distribution of wealth among nations, in order to maintain a global steady-state economy
Poverty Reduction
The party states that:
– it is time for a radical shift in our attitude toward support for families, children, the poor and the disabled
– such support must not be given grudgingly; it is the right of those presently in need and an investment in our future
– we should recognize that the work of their caregivers is of social and economic value, and reward it accordingly
– ensuring that children and their caregivers have access to an adequate, secure standard of living should form the cornerstone of our economic priorities. Only then can we hope to build our future on a foundation of healthy, educated children who are raised in an atmosphere of love and security
– all people have a right to food, housing, medical care, jobs that pay a living wage, education, and support in times of hardship
– work performed outside the monetary system has inherent social and economic value, and is essential to a healthy, sustainable economy and peaceful communities. Such work includes: child and elder care; homemaking; voluntary community service; continuing education; participating in government; and the arts
– we must take an uncompromising position that the care and nurture of children, elders and the disabled are essential to a healthy, peaceful, and sustainable society
– we have a special responsibility to the health and wellbeing of the young
– our community priorities must first protect the young and helpless
– local decision-making is important, but, as we learned during the civil rights era, strict federal standards must guide state actions in providing basic protections
The party advocates:
– as single mothers are the largest and most severely impoverished group in the United States, which explains why 22% of the children in our country live below the poverty line, and since welfare reform has forced mothers to abandon their children while they travel to work at minimum wage jobs, it advocates supports real reforms to end poverty and return dignity and opportunity to all mothers, including:
– innovative programs that work with the particular and special needs of motherhood, in addition to general programs such as a universal basic income
– restoration of a federally funded entitlement program to support children, families, the unemployed, elderly and disabled, with no time limit on benefits
– funding of such a program through the existing welfare budget, reductions in military spending and corporate subsidies, and a fair, progressive income tax
– a graduated supplemental income, or negative income tax, that would maintain all individual adult incomes above the poverty level, regardless of employment or marital status
– reinvestment of a significant portion of the military budget into family support, living-wage job development, and work training programs
– publicly funded work training and education programs which have a goal of increasing employment options at finding living-wage jobs
– public funding for the development of living-wage jobs in community and environmental service. For example, environmental clean-up, recycling, sustainable agriculture and food production, sustainable forest management, repair and maintenance of public facilities, neighborhood-based public safety, aides in schools, libraries and childcare centers, and construction and renovation of energy-efficient housing
– ending of enterprise zone giveaways, which benefit corporations more than inner-city communities
– tax incentives for businesses that apply fair employee wage distribution standards, and income tax policies that restrict the accumulation of excessive individual wealth
– requiring corporations receiving public subsidies must provide jobs that pay a living wage, observe basic workers’ rights, and agree to affirmative action policies
Livable Income
The party affirms the importance of access to a livable income, and advocates:
– a universal basic income (sometimes called a guaranteed income, negative income tax, citizen’s income, or citizen dividend), to go to every adult regardless of health, employment, or marital status, in order to minimize government bureaucracy and intrusiveness into people’s lives
– assuring such incomes in amounts sufficient so that anyone who is unemployed can afford basic food and shelter, with supplementation by state and local governments from local revenues where the cost of living is high
– prioritizing job banks and other innovative training and employment programs which bring together the private and public sector
– for people who are unable to find decent work in the private sector, options through publicly funded opportunities
– workforce development programs aimed at moving people out of poverty
– a clear living wage standard should serve as a foundation for trade between nations, and a “floor” of guaranteed wage protections and workers’ rights should be negotiated in future trade agreements, with the United States taking the lead on this front
Housing
The party states that
– people have a right to a home and to be secure in their tenancy. However the supply of affordable housing is not meeting the need, while in an era of increasing deregulation, many tenants are losing important legal protections
– funding for affordable housing is decreasing, while rent control and tenant eviction protections do not exist in many jurisdictions
– housing discrimination also remains rampant against people of color, immigrants, disabled, single people, gays and lesbians, and families with children
– long-term stagnation of workers’ real wages further exacerbates the lack of housing availability and affordability
– moreover, although increased affordable housing can help alleviate the problem of homelessness, the homeless have additional needs that go far beyond housing
The party advocates:
– guaranteed rights for tenants, including: freedom from harassment and evictions without just cause; well-enforced habitability standards; strong anti-discrimination enforcement, including family protection laws and domestic partnerships; continuation of established services and amenities; the right to reasonable guest visitation; maintenance of roommate privileges; and the right to communicate with other tenants about conditions or circumstances in their buildings, with strong penalties for landlords who violate these rights
– funding of public and non-profit tenant-related counseling and legal assistance for renters
– defense and expansion of cities’ right to enact local rent control laws, including vacancy control/recontrol, that fit the needs of their communities
– publicly elected Rent Control/Stabilization Boards for communities with local rent control laws
– preservation and increase of affordable housing inclusionary ordinances that fit the needs of their communities, so that the private sector will contribute its share of affordable housing construction
– funding for publicly built affordable housing, including funding for non-profit corporations that build affordable housing
– zoning to promote mixed-use development along transit corridors to locate housing next to jobs and public transportation
– ensuring that fair housing principles are emphasized in programs addressing the mortgage and financial crisis
– prevention of homelessness before it occurs by addressing its structural causes, through raising the income floor under the working poor, creating living-wage jobs, providing job training and education that will enable low-wage workers to obtain living-wage jobs, preserving and expanding affordable housing, providing affordable health care, ensuring sufficient mental health care and substance abuse services, availability of healthy food and providing effective, holistic assistance that connects vulnerable individuals with sources of income and essential services
– recognition that there are multiple, related and individualized causes of homelessness, and develop solutions that address them
– to increase employment for homeless people, setting aside a share of public-sector jobs for homeless people who are able to work, and ensuring that public agencies devoted to job creation are active in providing job training and work opportunities for homeless residents, with support non-profit agencies engaged in such work
– involving homeless people in decision-making about short- and long-term solutions to homelessness
– educating homeless people about their right to vote, and encouraging voter registration and voter participation among homeless people
Jobs, Unions, & Employment
The party states that:
– it proposes a third alternative to a job or no job dichotomy: to provide everyone a sustainable livelihood. The need of our times is for security, not necessarily jobs. We need security in the knowledge that, while markets may fluctuate and jobs may come and go, we are still able to lead a life rooted in dignity and well-being
– the concept of a “job” is only a few hundred years old; and the artificial dichotomy between “employment” and “unemployment” has become a tool of social leverage for corporate exploiters. This produces a dysfunctional society in various ways: (1) It is used to justify bringing harmful industries to rural communities, such as extensive prison construction and clear cutting of pristine forests. (2) It has been used to pit workers (people needing jobs) against the interests of their own communities. (3) It has created a self-esteem crisis in a large segment of the adult population who have been forced into doing work that is irrelevant, socially harmful, or environmentally unsound
– the right to organize unions, bargain freely and strike when necessary is being eroded by employers and their representatives in government
– nearly one out of ten workers involved in union organizing drives is illegally fired by employers who want to keep workers from exercising a genuinely free choice
– as union membership falls, so do the wages of all working people, union and non-union alike
– it supports the irreducible right of working people, without hindrance, to form unions and to bargain collectively with their employers, as guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935
– it supports the right of workers, without penalty, to inform other workers on the premises of a union being formed, including the right to advertise and recruit
– a major consequence of enacting living wage laws that apply to all workers would be lessening of the ever-widening gap between CEOs’ income and workers’ pay. The growing gap between rich and poor is destructive of democracy and creates an uneven playing field for economic opportunity
– public welfare that depends on hand-outs from the corporate rich reduces democracy by that same amount
– every citizen is entitled to the leverage necessary to become a productive member of the economy and the society in which we live
The party advocates:
– creation of work that does not jeopardize our future or widen the gap between the richest and the poorest in our society, and that can enrich our communities
– creating alternative, low-consumption communities and living arrangements, including a reinvigorated sustainable homesteading movement in rural areas and voluntary shared housing in urban areas
– establishing local non-profit development corporations
– providing people with information about alternatives to jobs
– adopting a reduced-hour (30-35 hours) work week as a standard. This could translate into as many as 26 million new jobs
-subsidizing renewable energy sources, which directly employ 2 to 5 times as many people for every unit of electricity generated as fossil or nuclear sources yet are cost competitive
– supporting small business by reducing tax, fee and bureaucratic burdens
– opposing the trend toward “bundling” of contracts that minimizes opportunity for small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses
– reducing consumption to minimize outsourcing — the exportation of jobs to other countries—thus reducing the relative price of using U.S. workers
– a complete overhaul of the country’s labor laws
– a right of employees to sit equally with management on company the Boards of Directors
– the right of members to fair and democratic elections of their own union officers
– prohibiting the permanent replacement of striking workers
– the prohibition of forced overtime
– flexible working schedules so employees can arrange their own time to deal with personal and family concerns
– the right of all workers, temporary or permanent, to a living wage
– a federal minimum wage for all workers of at least $15 per hour, indexed to inflation
– health care coverage for all workers, at least half paid by employer, until the passage of universal health care
– unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and access to a jobs search program for all unemployed workers, including farm workers as well
– fully vested and portable pension benefits, which do not reduce social security benefits, for all workers
– mediation as the first available solution to labor– management disputes, with an agreed-upon time limit
– labor’s first right to buy out a company that is for sale or is going bankrupt, or being outsourced to another state or another country
– requiring employers who purchase or merge with other companies to honor all existing collective bargaining agreements and contracts
– labor’s right to stock ownership and oversight of the investment of its own funds in the company where it works
– encouragement of cooperative ownership and management of enterprises
– restriction of management’s ability to close its workplace and move to a lower-pay locale, to protect the local workforce and their job security
– establishment of a reduced-hour work week and at least one month of vacation per year for all workers
– to ensure that all workers have safe and humane working environments, protection and enforcement of OSHA laws, adequate testing of equipment and funding of enforcement procedures, informing workers of workplace hazards
Pension Reform
The party advocates:
– to give workers options concerning investment of their pension funds, including those used used for corporate mergers, acquisitions and leveraged buyouts, decisions that undercut workers rights, employment, and retirement while generously rewarding non-productive speculation, joint control of corporate-sponsored pension funds (the biggest category of funds) by management and workers, not exclusively management
– implementation of federal laws to enable pension funds to simply seek a reasonable rate of return, not the prevailing market rate which greatly restricts where investments can be made
– establishment of a secondary pension market by the government to insure pension investments made in socially beneficial programs must be considered as one method that could greatly expand the impact of this capital market
Small Businesses, Trades & Crafts
The party states that:
– small businesses are where the jobs are being created. Over the past decade and a half, all new net job growth has come from the small business sector
– conservation should be profitable, and employment should be creative, meaningful and fairly compensated
– access to capital is often an essential need in growing a business
– the present tax system acts to discourage small business as it encourages waste, discourages conservation, and rewards consumption
– big business has used insider access to dominate the federal tax code. The tax system needs a major overhaul to favor the legitimate and critical needs of the small business community
– retention of capital through retained earnings, efficiencies, and savings is central to small business competitiveness. Current tax policies often act to unfairly penalize small business
The party advocates:
– going beyond the dedicated good work being done by many “socially responsible businesses” to present new ways of seeing how business can help create a sustainable world, while surviving in a competitive business climate
– reduction of unnecessary restrictions, fees, bureaucracy, including in particular use of the Paper Simplification Act should as a way to benefit small business the self-employed
– full tax deductions for health insurance premiums paid by the self-employed
– examination of the use of pension funds (the result of workers’ investments) as additional sources of capital for small business
– reduction of insurance costs by means of active engagement with the insurance industry, and expansion of insurance pools
– one-stop government offices to assist individuals who want to change careers or go into business for the first time
– support for home offices
Corporations
The party states that:
– the legal imperative of profit above all else is damaging the nation and our planet in countless ways. We must change the legal design of corporations so that they generate profits, but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, public health, workers, or the communities in which the corporation operates
The party advocates:
– reducing the economic and political power of large corporations, ending corporate personhood, and re-designing corporations to serve our society, democracy and the environment
– strong and effectively enforced antitrust laws and regulation to counteract the concentration of economic and political power that imposes a severe toll on people, places and the planet. Greens believe the legal structure of the corporation is obsolete
– prevention and justice are at the heart of consumer protection
– millions of lives will be saved or lost depending on the strength of our consumer protection laws
– it aims to stop corporations and others from defrauding consumers or endangering them with defective products or negligence
– it stands with consumers who have been injured or defrauded by corporations and others, and with whistleblowers, who are often the public’s best protection against corporate crime, fraud and waste
Banks and Finance
The party states that:
– because finance, banking, and insurance institutions occupy a privileged position of power at the center of commerce, this special advantage brings with it special social responsibilities
– the nation must ensure that institutions chartered for these roles take that responsibility seriously and serve the public interest
– it aims to reform the financial industry to eliminate usury (exorbitantly high interest rates on loans) and ensure that they meet their obligations to taxpayers and local communities
The party advocates:
– overhauling the financial industry to end its culture of impunity and to prevent it from committing fraud or malfeasance so severe as to drive our nation into a massive recession or depression
– breaking up the nation’s largest banks and financial institutions so that none is “too big to fail”
– ending taxpayer- funded bailouts for banks, insurers and other financial companies
– regulating all financial derivatives, banning predatory or gambling use of derivatives, and requiring full transparency for all derivative trades, to control risk of systemic financial collapse.
– requiring regulatory preapproval of exotic financial instruments
– reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited bank holding companies from owning other financial companies and engaging in risky economic transactions
– ending federal government guarantees for speculative investments
– ensuring that relief provided by the federal government during a financial crisis is provided in an equal manner and at the most local level possible, so that benefits are equitably dispersed and burdens are equitably born
– ensuring that low- and middle-income people have access to banking services, affordable loans, and small-business supporting capital, especially through credit unions
– ending disinvestment practices in which lending and financial institutions move money deposited in local communities out of those same communities, damaging the best interests of their customers and community
– extension of the Community Reinvestment Act to provide public and timely information on the extent of housing loans, small business loans to minority-owned enterprises, investments in community development projects, and affordable housing
– strengthening of disclosure laws, anti-redlining laws, and openness on the part of lenders regarding what criteria they use in making lending decisions
– development of charter community development banks capitalized with public funds and working to meet the credit needs of local communities
– prosecution of criminal banking speculation
– a moratorium on foreclosures. An ongoing mortgage-related crime wave is occurring around fraudulent foreclosures, rushed through without proper legal clearances or documentation, often on properties which foreclosing entities cannot even prove they own
– restructuring of the monetary system, to prevent misdirection of resources to speculation, toxic loans, and phony financial instruments that create huge profits for the few but no real wealth or jobs
– to reverse the privatization of control over the money issuing process of our nation’s monetary system; reverse its resulting concentration of wealth and income; and to end the regular recurrence of severe and disruptive banking crises, nationalizing the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, reconstituting them and the Federal Reserve Systems Washington Board of Governors under a new Monetary Authority Board within the U.S. Treasury
– insurance reform, including elimination of special-interest protections, collusion, over-pricing and industry-wide practices that injure the interests of the insured when they are most vulnerable
Anti-Trust Enforcement
The party states that:
– the anti-trust division of the Justice Department has had its scope and powers reduced
– growth in unregulated mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, and leveraged buy-outs has overwhelmed the federal government’s capacity to provide effective oversight
– financial and trading markets have become particularly vulnerable to insider trading. Securities and Exchange Commission regulation of these markets has seriously fallen short
The party advocates:
– strong and effective enforcement of anti-trust regulations to counteract the concentration of economic power
– redefinition of “relevant market share” in assessing mergers
– Congressional action to stop illegal monopolistic practices
Technology & Defense
The party states that:
– it supports defense technology transfer towards a peacetime technology-based economy, particularly new industrial applications and developments in the areas of advanced communications, alternative energy, non-toxic battery technology and waste management
– consolidation of the nuclear weapons complex should move toward alternative civilian technologies and non-proliferation work, not toward a new generation of nuclear weapon design and production
The party advocates:
– going forward with government and civilian space programs; research initiatives in sustainability science, environmental protection, ecological economics and transportation, appropriate technologies and technology transfer; environmental sampling and onitoring; systems testing; laser communications; and high speed computers
– ending patenting or copyrighting life forms, algorithms, DNA, colors or commonly used words and phrases, and broad interpretation and ultimate expansion of the Fair Use of copyrighted works
Nanotechnology
The party states that like nuclear science and biotechnology, nanotechnology is being pursued largely outside of public debate, risking great harm and abuse in its use and application
The party advocates halting nanotechnology development until the following conditions are met:
– development of full and open public debate about the implications of nanotechnology and the fusion of nanotech with biological, materials and information sciences
– development of democratic public control mechanisms to regulate the direction of nanotechnology research and development
– expanded research into the environmental and health consequences of exposure to nano-scale materials
– development of technology and precautionary safety measures for containment and control over nano-scale materials and development
Consumers
The party advocates:
– strong consumer protections against fraud, dangerous products, usury, corporate greed and rip-offs, including strengthening of product safety standards and enforcement for a variety of products, including food, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals and airplanes
– restoration of state health, safety, and consumer protection laws by striking federal pre-emptions that weaken state law
– preservation and expansion of product labeling requirements to ensure that consumers are informed about the origin, ingredients and ecological life cycle of all products, including animal testing and the product’s organic, recycled and genetically-engineered content, and inclusion of information about the nutritional value and the vegetarian or vegan status of food products
– prohibiting corporations from concealing information about public health, labor conditions or environmental safety via protective orders or confidential settlements
– expansion of class action rights against manufacturers of unsafe products and practices, and strengthen the civil justice system and supply the resources necessary to bring to justice to those corporations that injure innocent consumers
– protection for whistle blowers against demotion, job loss, and other forms of retaliation
– ending of “tort reform” that undermines consumers’ ability to seek redress, and “medical malpractice reform” that relieves negligent doctors of responsibility for injuring or killing their patients
– granting consumers the right to limit collection and secondary use of personal information by any commercial entity
– prohibiting loan and credit card interest rates higher 12% annually, indexed for inflation
– prohibiting the widespread practice of price gouging against women and the poor
– restoration of Chapter 7 bankruptcy as a viable final safety net for consumers caught by health crises, unaffordable mortgages, credit card debts and student loans
– banning the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, to protect consumers from anti-consumer and unfair dispute resolution processes
– establishment of new independent government consumer advocacy agencies to protect the interests of consumers and restoration of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs
– policies to encourage citizens, taxpayers, ratepayers and consumers to form Citizens Utility Boards to advocate for the public interest.
Agriculture
The party states that:
– all people have a right to adequate, safe, nutritional and high quality food; and those who grow it have a right to a fair return for their labor
– the nation’s industrialized agriculture system is highly destructive of our environment, of our people’s health, and of our society’s future. Unless it changes radically, we face desertification, ecosystem collapse, mass extinctions, and starvation. Our civilization itself is threatened by the loss of the ecosystem services on which it depends for its existence
– agriculture is the high-order term in climate change, not only because of the amount of carbon it contributes to the atmosphere, but more importantly because of the vital role it could play in sequestering carbon and restoring a healthy carbon cycle
– among other things, the adoption of regenerative agriculture throughout the food system will put a stop to unethical confined animal operations, improve the diversity and nutritional content of our food, and rationalize the pricing and distribution of food
The party advocates:
– legislation that assists new and existing farmers and ranchers to convert their operations to regenerative agricultural methods that promote widespread ownership of small and medium-sized farms and ranches, and that revitalizes and repopulates rural communities and promotes sustainable development and stewardship
– legislation and regulations that promote foods produced using regenerative methods, including no-till/minimum till, natural soil building techniques, development of natural soil biomes, and set-asides for wildlife alongside cultivated areas
– a regionalized food system and decentralization of agriculture lands, production, and distribution
– promotion of producer and consumer cooperatives, community kitchens, Community Supported Agriculture, urban agriculture, and community farms and gardens
– creation of a Food Policy Council composed of farmers, including small farmers and consumers, to oversee the USDA and all food policies at the local, state, and national level, without powers to adjudicate conflicts of interest that arise when industries police themselves
– shifting price supports and government subsidies to organic, regeneratively produced food products so that they will be competitive with chemically produced food
– banning of sewage sludge or hazardous wastes as fertilizer, and of irradiation and the use of genetic engineering in all food production
– phasing out of man-made pesticides and artificial fertilizers in favor of Integrated Pest Management techniques
– food prices that reflect the true cost of food, including the health effects of eating processed foods, antibiotic resistance, pesticide effects on growers and consumers, soil erosion, water pollution, pesticide drift, and air pollution
– ethical and sustainable methods of animal husbandry, including a rapid phase out of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and a complete transition to an integrated, regenerative agriculture approach to the cultivation, treatment, and use of livestock, not only for environmental reasons, but also for the sake of food safety (e.g. disease epidemics), public health, and animal protection
– application of the Precautionary Principle to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including a moratorium until safety can be demonstrated by independent (non-corporate funded), long-term tests for food safety, genetic drift, resistance, soil health, effects on non-target organisms, and cumulative interactions
– elimination of patent rights for genetic material, life forms, gene-splicing techniques, and bio-chemicals derived from them
– mandatory, full-disclosure food and fiber labeling, including contents, method of production, source of origin, presence of GMOs, use of irradiation, pesticide application (in production, transport, storage, and retail), compliance with organic standards
– coverage of agricultural and other excluded workers by federal labor laws, except where existing state laws offer more protection
– coverage of agricultural workers under the jurisdiction of OSHA
– ending industrialized agriculture methods, including monocropping, reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of confined animal operations, all of which are high-order contributors to atmospheric greenhouse gases
– converting food producing systems to small-scale organic, regenerative agriculture (agroecology) systems to restore soil health, sequester carbon, foster biodiversity, discourage the currently unsustainable level of meat consumption, and secure robust ecosystem services for a sustainable future
– replacement of subsidized, industrially-produced agricultural products with support for small producers employing organic, regenerative agricultural methods
– localized food distribution systems to minimize waste, build rural communities, and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels
– relocalization and decarbonization of the food system
Infrastructure & Transportation
The party advocates:
– increased development of clean public transportation, including electric vehicles of all types
– decentralization of the electric power grid into a bioregional system for generation and distribution of electricity, with smart grid updates and net metering
Pedestrians & Cyclists
The party advocates:
– encouraging pedestrians and bicyclists, by making streets, neighborhoods and commercial districts more pedestrian friendly, increasing the greenery of streets, and utilizing traffic-calming methods, where the design of streets promotes safe speeds and safe interaction with pedestrians
– creating auto-free zones by developing extensive networks of bikeways, bicycle lanes and paths and maintain free community bicycle fleets
Rail
The party advocates:
– expanding the national network of rail lines, including high-speed regional passenger service
– transferring ownership and operation of all intercity railroad trackage currently under control of freight railroads to responsible and adequately funded public agencies, as is done with highways, to provide for efficiency and safety of all rail traffic
Autos & Trucks
The party advocates:
– a moratorium on highway widening, appropriating funds instead for mass transit and facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists
– mandating HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on freeways, and lower tolls for carpools
– discouraging unnecessary auto use by eliminating free parking in non-residential areas well served by mass transit, and preferential parking rates for HOV
– regular increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to levels which truly challenge automakers to improve the state of the art, using the fuel economy performance of vehicles worldwide for reference
– a Fee & Dividend system on the carbon content of gasoline, Diesel fuel and E85, and a fuel-economy-based Federal sales tax that creates a significant incentive for people to select more efficient vehicles, and for automakers to make them available
– electrification of truck stops, freight terminals and loading docks
– enactment and enforcement of anti-idling regulations
– encouraging carpooling programs, telecommuting, and other creative solutions to reduce commuter traffic congestion
Air Travel
The party advocates:
– making airports accessible by local transit systems
– further incremental reductions in airplane noise and air pollution
Innovation
The party advocates:
– creation of an inclusive program to train workers for the new, clean energy economy. Focusing on both the environment and social justice, prioritize the creation of green jobs in communities of color and low-income Ecological Sustainability communities
– transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 using wind, solar, ocean, small-scale hydro, and geothermal power
– end the use of nuclear power, which is massively polluting, dangerous, financially risky, expensive and slow to implement, and diverting funds to wind, solar, geothermal, conservation and small-scale hydroelectric
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